Tag Archives: scribes

When I went to the grocery store, I could not turn down a tote bag of apples that was on sale. I was excited to have a great supply of apples; however, when I got home I found a few rotten apples that were hidden in the middle of the tote. They had to have been rotting for days, and they had begun to spread their nastiness to a few of their neighbors.

The bag of apples looked inviting until I got to peer at the inside of the bag. In the same way, there may be people who have the outer appearance of living one way, but if you view the inside you would get a whole different story. We spend a lot of time trying to shine up the apples on the top of the tote, the ones everyone sees; however, we do not often work on the inside. Jesus told the Pharisees not to worry about the outside so much, but to focus on the inside. Because when the inside is clean, the outside would soon follow. Whatever is inside overflows outward.

Today, consider the inside of your own personal tote bag. Yes, consider your heart. Look at your motives. Look at your desires. Ask the Spirit to help you examine closely and reveal anything that shouldn’t be there. Today is a great day to toss out any rotten apples and press forward in your walk.

“You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.” – Matthew 23:26-27 [ESV]

There are many illusions in the world today. The media is great at producing illusions. Magazines. Newspapers. Television. Just watch a reality television show and you will likely see an illusion. There is a deceptive appearance. You are made to think certain things, to perceive something that is actually false. Sometimes it is hard to know the truth. Because there are so many sources around, it is hard to find the facts. Photoshop. The Internet.

Many things have attributed to this society of illusion. At times you can feel like you are stuck in an illusion. Today’s passage speaks of being stuck in an illusion, an illusion that was concocted by the “religion experts” of that time. The teachers twisted the law of God making it false; they took the truth and made it a lie. Because of this deception, the Bible says that “they (knew) everything but GOD’s Word.” The people had only lies before them and they accepted it all as truth.

We can each ask ourselves if we are stuck in illusion. We are the proud owners of GOD’s revelation. The question is, are you using it in your life? Are you applying it? Are you even understanding it? Are you actively pursuing it or are you grabbing for the world? Where do you find your truth? What or Who are you knowing?

“How can you say, “We know the score.
We’re the proud owners of God’s revelation”?
Look where it’s gotten you—stuck in illusion.
Your religion experts have taken you for a ride!
Your know-it-alls will be unmasked,
caught and shown up for what they are.
Look at them! They know everything but God’s Word.
Do you call that “knowing”?